In 1873 Cadet Flipper
entered the Military Academy. God had given him a
black skin, a warm heart, an active brain, and a
patriotic ambition. He was guilty of no other crime
than that of being a negro, and bent on obtaining a
good education. He represented a race which had done
as good fighting for the flag as any done by the fair-
skinned Anglo-Saxon or Celt. Congress had recognized
his right and the right of his race to education.
"But his classmates decided that it should be denied
him. If they had possessed the brutal courage of the
murderers of Chisholm they would have shot him, or
whipped him, or hung him; but they were not brave
enough for that, and they invented instead a punishment
worse than the State has inflicted upon its most brutal
criminals. They condemned him to four years of solitude
and silence. For four years not a classmate spoke to
Cadet Flipper; for three years he did not hear his own
voice, except in the recitation-room, on leave of
absence, or in chance conversation with a stray visitor.
Then another negro entered West Point, and he had one
companion. The prison walls of a Sing Sing cell are more
sympathetic than human prejudice. And in all that class
of '77 there were not to be found a dozen men brave enough
to break through this wall of silence and give the
imprisoned victim his liberty. At least two thirds of the
class are Republican appointees; and not one champion of
equal rights.
Pages:
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286